Hi all, decided to release the new version today. I've done a few months of internal testing, not as much as I would like but enough to get it out. I will be doing more testing (paid), but it's stable enough now for everyone to jump in. Do keep in mind this is still Alpha, so I expect bugs given everyone's computer builds, but worry not as I get any bugs they will be a priority. Now on to the fun part, what's new?
Updates
- I've moved the game to the Unreal Engine, this choice was made based on the Unreal networking system, and an integrated AI system. This choice was made before Unity's rev-sharing news. Besides networking and AI, Unnatural Investigations will also get a graphics bump.
- The gameplay loop has been modified, more of a streamlined approach. Here's the loop -> Collect crystals & relics, destroy runes, collect clues(Corpse,spirit,demonic growth), summon boss, kill boss
- Crystals & Relics are collision pickups, just run over them to collect them. Collect 7 relics that light the summon platform fires and 10 crystals that are used during your interaction with Demonic growths.
- Interact with corpse(now multiple) until you find the clue
- Interact with the spirit, the first few times it will not give you the clue, then after that, you have a random chance it gives it to you. For example, you may interact with it 4 times and get a clue or it may take 7. Each time it will randomly teleport somewhere on the map.
- Demonic growths require 10 crystals, once you have you need just interact with
- Enemies - Each level will have default enemy types, for this version the two levels have Cultist, both melee and ranged. Killing them will sometimes drop a health kit, armor kit, or ammo.
- Player changes - You have Armor now which blocks one complete attack per piece. Once gone, you will take health damage. You can still use your special which can be health or ammo and can be changed via the datalog window(default 'J'). You can change from first to third person (hold 'V').
- Weapons - For now, everyone has a pistol, rifle, and shotgun. No need to modify ammo anymore as bosses are more dynamic, see the new video for Alpha 3.0 at the end to see a boss in action.
Random Events
Random events are something I am excited to share. Right now I have 5, but I plan on adding much more. They are optional, but I made the game around using them, especially if you want a challenge. Without spoiling them I will mention two, Zombies and Demons. These are two that make the game harder, zombies will start to randomly spawn and seek out the closest player. They are easy to kill but if you're not working as a team they can be a problem. They will continue to spawn up to around 128 of them. Demons are repurposed from the Demonic Awareness system, they start spawning one at a time up to 5. They get harder as they go, they are fast and crawl on the ground, and they don't make sounds so they can be very deadly. Besides those, there will be random events that benefit you the player, so not all are out to get you.
Player Death
This system has been overhauled. The original one placed the player in a prison-like space with monitors to view the battle until your teammates got your soul back. While that system worked it left players bored and during a boss battle near impossible.
The new system is much different. When you die 3 times you return as a harmless skeleton in the world. You then need to collect soul shards to regain your life. Once you grab enough you respawn and get 3 more lives as long as there is another player alive. If you play solo you get 6 lives then it's game over, no skeleton.
Note
This was a big change going from Unity to Unreal, some things did not carry over, and some did. The biggest hurdle was getting used to Unreal's editor and diving into C++.
I have tested this version on several different PCs and laptops and as you would expect, higher-end PCs will be able to run this game maxed out while lower-spec systems will need to reduce settings. I did add a basic options menu that allows you to tweak visual settings. The goal is to expand that system to include key bindings and audio. I am not there yet but it is a priority for me. Some spec examples, are my mid system with 3060 and low RAM and low CPU runs on medium, my old laptop with around a 1080 runs ok on low-medium, and my high-end PC with i9, 128 ram, and 3090 runs on Ultra. This is with only minor optimization, so expect improvements.
The Demo will be coming out soon, was planning on releasing at the same time, but I need to tweak a few settings on Steam first, so look out for that in the next few days. As I mentioned the demo will contain everything up to version 3.0 so you can get your friends to play and test, or if you don't own you can play and see where the games going.
Please provide feedback, good or bad but please at least provide some specifics, I can't fix or improve if I don't what the problem is. Also, this is still in Alpha so if something looks funky, bugs, or anything, I want the feedback and I will do whatever I can to iron out those issues.
Thanks all.